19Sep 2019 by DS News Team
Squires, Team Russia Know-How

Squires, Team Russia Know-How

Newsfeed, Training & Outfitting
Well, it isn't really. Coaches who maintain their form were training alongside active athletes for yonks. A squire - or " coach who trains along" - fulfills many roles including conducting training sessions  , leading by example ( how about 5 hour mountain trekking or equally long biking? ) and to some, namely team leaders, being quasi-personal coach. It could be argued that recent successes of both Team Slovenia and Team GB are linked to that active coaching system. But it's the Russians who polished the system and in some ways took a step further in the last couple of years. Here's how it works: [caption id="attachment_12791" align="alignnone" width="1920"] ...it's all started with Markus Cramer arrival to Team Russia. First order of things was to get him an interpreter. By…
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17Sep 2019 by DS News Team
More On Fluoro Ban

More On Fluoro Ban

Newsfeed, Training & Outfitting
Pierre Mignerey, the race director of cross-country skiing at the International Ski Federation since 2012, in interview with Ski Chrono/ Le Dauphine "The next year an environmental standard goes into effect that will ban production, distribution and importation of fluorine wax in the European Union.... The problem is that we have no way to control the teams for the moment. " Quite a thing to say, coming from one of the top bosses of international cross country skiing - and quite an issue overall. So, we decided to publish more relevant excerpts from our recent conversation with one of the key people pushing non-fluoro revolution in xcskiing. Say hello again to Joel Svedlund, project manager with Peak Innovation and one of the organizers of The POPFREE Ski Goes Global project…
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05Sep 2019 by DS News Team
Banning Flouro Wax: Realistic Or Wishful Thinking?

Banning Flouro Wax: Realistic Or Wishful Thinking?

Newsfeed, Training & Outfitting
...We all know that in skiing two things matter: how your body behaves - and how do your skis. Body behavior & any enhancement of thereof are ever tightly controlled by anti-doping rules these days. But when it comes to skis - there's no limit as to what you could do to make them run faster as long as you stay within FIS- officiated length and shape restrictions. As one xcski insider puts it "if we learn tomorrow that gilding of skis with 24 carat gold helps the glide - we shall start doing that" Which means evolving from "just flouro" ( now known as LF) to high flouro to - for those who could afford them - expensive super-fluorinated waxes, powders and emulsions . And that's where the problem…
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05Jul 2019 by DS News Team
Skiers, July Shirtless Edition

Skiers, July Shirtless Edition

Leaders, Newsfeed, Training & Outfitting
Yeah, because it's very hot to wear anything covering a torso. But also because the elite skiers these days have bodies so well conditioned that Myron of Eleutherae would beg them to pose for one of his sculptures were he to live today. Remember, the ancient Greeks honored the athletic body as a symbol of extreme discipline, tenacity and overall civilizational superiority. Living twenty five centuries after talking about superiority of any kind would be uncouth, of course... So, how about calling them a "source of inspiration / object of emulation" for the rest of us? These are the skiers' bodies honed and shaped by hundreds of hours of extreme physical hard work [caption id="attachment_12019" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ivan Kirillov[/caption] [caption id="attachment_12017" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Evgeny Belov[/caption] [caption id="attachment_12014" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Andrey…
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15Oct 2018 by DS News Team
Ramsau When There Is Unseasonably Hot

Ramsau When There Is Unseasonably Hot

Newsfeed, Training & Outfitting
[caption id="attachment_9102" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Skiers should have been training up there in the mountains, on Dachstein glacier – but abnormally warm weather keeps most down in the valley[/caption] [caption id="attachment_9095" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] some run with poles - like Teresa Stadlober and Irina Kovalenko...[/caption] [caption id="attachment_9098" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] ...or ""power trio" of the Russian team: Denis Spitsov, Alexey Chervotkin and Alexander Bolshunov[/caption] [caption id="attachment_9097" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Others have have opted for rollerskis - like Viktor Brännmark who wanted to show the others that in Pitea Elite they train bare-chested. Others did not mind at all ? [/caption] [caption id="attachment_9094" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] on the roads skiers are competing with local cows for the right of passage ( losing, mostly - cows were there earlier) [/caption] [caption id="attachment_9100" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] ...biathlon brothers &…
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